Chapter 2

Gemma’s POV

I froze at the noise, and the moment before I continued to struggle stretched out for what seemed like an eternity.

It was the longest second of my life, and I didn’t snap out of it until the sound of a jagged voice reached my ears.

“Help! Please, someone HELP ME!!”

Two things happened at the same time immediately after.

The first was the realization that the voice crying out for help belonged to me, and the second was that all of the males in the diner seemed to suddenly grow restless as my scent travelled through the air.

Cole pushed me back until the hard-edged corner of a booth table pressed against my lower back, and since I was still fighting to hold up the ripped fabric of my apron and the dress beneath it, he sensed an opportunity and slid his legs between mine, effectively pinning me to the table.

I couldn’t move, and my heart seemed as if it had come into my throat as my attacker shot me an ugly leering grin.

“No one is coming to save you from me doll face,” he began, and I felt a surge of hopelessness begin to settle over me.

Instead of giving into it though, I intensified my struggles. The fact that no one was coming to save me did not mean that I had to make this easy for him. I would fight, even if it meant that I had to come out of this broken and bloody. Even if—

“ENOUGH, COLE” a familiar voice barked out, and a hint of hesitation suddenly crept into Cole’s dark eyes as his fingers stilled on my clothes. “GET OFF THAT GIRL, NOW!”

A wave of relief crashed into me when I looked past his shoulder to find the speaker standing by the bar, right next to the cash register.

It was Paula, the owner of the diner, and she was flanked on all sides by the cook and some of the other staff of the diner, who all had expressions that ranged from anger to horror.

There was no central authority in Rogueland as normal Packs, but Paula had known most of the people here since they were in diapers, which had its own kind of power in a place like this.

The effect her arrival had on the room was instant, because the male customers who’d looked like they too would like a turn at me suddenly looked ashamed.

“Don’t make me repeat myself, Cole,” Paula snapped. “I know you think you’re some sort of hot shot around here, but I’ve been feeding you before you were even as tall as the booth tables.”

Cole pulled away from me, and a flicker of shame passed over his face as he suddenly cleared his throat.

“Shut up, old hag,” he growled as he straightened to adjust his rumpled jacket and the front of his pants, which had bunched up in the struggle.

Then he turned to me, and his eyes fixed on my torn dress briefly before flickering up to my face.

“This isn’t over,” he mouthed at me, before turning on his heel and walking out of the diner, trailed after by his minions.

The last one of them to leave slammed the door so hard on his way out that it shook in its hinges, and for a moment the room seemed suspended in time as the remaining customers looked at their cups of coffee and the meals on their plates, no doubt debating between whether to finish up or leave.

The fight with Cole had left me weak, and my limbs felt like bricks so I didn’t move from my prone position on the table after he left. My knees would’ve given out if I tried to, anyway.

Paula’s walking stick dragged against the linoleum floors as she made her way over to me, and she held a hand out. Still shocked, I took it and she supported me to my feet, letting me lean on her slightly as we both made our way to the locker rooms, where I had changed into my work uniform just a few hours earlier.

The sight of my packed bag, and the other things looking just as I had left them broke something in me, and like a dam giving up I started to sob. It was a waterworks galore, complete with tears and snot, and Paula said nothing as I cried my sadness out, and my fear, and the frustration.

All she did was pat my hair and make reassuring noises, and eventually when I calmed down, I pulled away from her slightly.

“Feeling better, sweetheart?” she asked, and sniffling, I nodded.

“Yeah I am. Thanks for the save out there,” I murmured, cleaning my tears with the heel of my palm. “You can head on back out. I’ll just change into my spare uniform and get back to work.”

Paula’s eyes widened, and she stared at me like I had grown a second head I didn’t know about.

“By the goddess, Gemma, don’t be ridiculous,” she argued. “After what just happened? You’re taking the rest of the day off, sweetheart.”

“But I still have six hours to go in my shift and—”

She cut in before I could complete the sentence.

“I’ll find someone else to cover it. If I can’t, then I’ll just have to do it myself, won’t I?”

I opened my mouth to protest, but she raised her hand, and the gesture was so final that I found I couldn’t say anything about it. So, I nodded, and after a moment I told her I’d change before I headed out.

“Do you need me to stay or leave?” came her response, and after a moment of thinking over it I told her to stay.

Her presence was reassuring, and I would need to soak as much of that in as I could if I hoped to survive the next couple of days.

“Did you hear about that missing Luna everyone’s talking about?” she asked as I pulled open my locker and shimmied into my jeans and the blouse.

The question surprised me, as Paula was not one to gossip. But I sensed that she was also trying to take my mind off Cole’s assault, and I was grateful for the attempt.

“Yes, it’s all anyone could talk about in the diner.”

“Not just the diner…” My boss corrected me. “Rogueland’s been hot with news of her disappearance for two weeks now. I mean, three powerful Alphas searching for one missing woman.”

There was a brief pause as I powered up my phone and scrolled to the message I had sent Ian. Immediately my heart sank as I opened the text thread to find that he had read it but not answered.

I stared at my phone screen for a long moment until I realized that Paula was still talking.

“… if the rumors are anything to go off, the missing Luna is supposed to be a looker.” There was a meaningful pause, and I turned to look at her over my shoulder. “You’re a looker, if there ever was one.”

My face burned hot at the compliment, and when she lifted her eyebrow, I burst into sudden unexpected laughter.

“You think I could be the missing Luna?” I managed to ask between giggling fits.

Paula shrugged, but a rueful smile tugged at the corner of her mouth and her eyes twinkled.

“What? It’s not like stranger things haven’t happened in Rogueland.”

There was a brief pause as we both stared at each other before bursting into another round of laughter.

The idea of me being the missing Luna was so laughably ridiculous that I didn’t even feel offended.

I was an Omega so weak I had never even shifted, and I could barely communicate with my wolf. I was practically human, for all intents and purposes, and everyone knew that Lunas were moon-touched, favored by the goddess with abilities that let them rule beside their Alphas.

The missing Luna, if the story was even true, was out there somewhere.

But she wasn’t me.

My heart felt lighter by the time we were done laughing, and as Paula wiped tears from the corner of her clouded eyes she sighed.

“If only we were all as fortunate as the missing girl,” she said, before letting out another sigh. “But we can’t all be. People like us have to suffer, pay more in order to survive. Nothing comes easy for us, does it, sweetheart?”

The wistful look on her face sent a pang through me, and I felt envy trickle into me as I let myself hope for the first time since I woke up that there was someone out there looking for me—the father of the child I carried, at least.

The pregnancy was proof enough that my life hadn’t just started two months ago, and somewhere there was a person or several of them, who desperately wanted me to return.

•

Paula pulled me into a long hug before sending me off, and as I stepped into the frigid night a cold breeze blew, making goosebumps rise up on my neck.

It was 10:21 PM, and even though I spotted the occasional person, the streets were empty for the most part.

Being out alone at this time was basically an invitation to be mugged, and now that I knew that I was pregnant there were worse things in store for me.

I shivered at the thought of getting caught in an alleyway by traffickers, and made a mental note to talk with Paula about changing my shifts so I would be finished by the afternoon.

Of course, Karen wasn’t going to be happy about that. But between the two of us, only one person gave off hormones that made males go crazy and lose their inhibitions.

A pinging sound brought my attention to my phone, and my heart quickened at the thought that it was Ian, texting me back after leaving my message unanswered.

His silence had unnerved me more than I thought it would, but I imagined that he must’ve been busy. The Ian I knew wouldn’t be silent after I dropped a bomb like that.

My hopes deflated instantly when I saw that it wasn’t a text from Ian, but Paula saying she hoped I’d get home safe.

Frowning, I tapped my conversation thread with Ian, and saw the last couple of messages I sent after the pregnancy announcement went unanswered too.

His apartment was closer to the diner than mine, but going there would eat into the time I had to safely make it back to the hostel I stayed at. Still, I owed it to him to at least break the news face-to-face and end things on a respectful note, if it came to that.

It was the least I could do.

Having come to the decision, I took a deep sigh and started to trudge in the direction of Ian’s house.

My breath came out in cold puffs of smoke as I walked, and I rubbed my hands to keep them warm, blowing into them until I arrived at Ian’s shared apartment.

It was a small space, and when I knocked, I could hear shuffling on the other side. Chains rattled against the metal doorframe for a moment, and then slowly it creaked open.

A familiar face peeked out, and I smiled at Shane, Ian’s roommate.

“Hey, Shane. I’m here to see Ian.”

There hadn’t been many chances to get to know the small man, but we were cordial enough and so when instead of giving me a polite smile, his expression turned anxious… I should’ve suspected something.

But I didn’t, and even his stuttered excuses for why I couldn’t go up to Ian’s room fell on deaf ears.

I was too wrapped up in the need to make things right to notice that things were amiss as I climbed the stairs. I focused on practicing my apology speech.

“Hey, Ian, I came over to talk about what I told you about earlier—”

I halted midsentence, freezing like a deer in headlights as my eyes caught movement on the other side of my boyfriend’s door, which had been left slightly ajar.

Then pain slammed into me when I registered what I was seeing.

Ian was lying on the bed in all of his bare-chested glory… while a naked girl straddled his thighs, and as their hips rocked she threw her head back to let out a pleasure-filled moan.